Just let it go
Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, Christian band Blessthefall are trying almost single handed in their attempts to keep the screamo genre going. While the body is failing and the last strains of life a ebbing away, there they are, beating on its chest, hoping to get one last breath from its motionless remains. Let's face it: Screamo is predominantly dead, but every now and again some chancers come along and try to revive it. We've had several bands try and inject life back into the genre but all we've had in the past couple of years is a faint splutter of being, and it seems now it has well and truly flat lined.
After touring with Norma Jean, Misery Signals and Between the Buried and Me and gaining a fair amount of fans along the way, this re-release still seems a little untimely. With the likes of metalcore, thrash and such all being so popular, there doesn't seem to be any room for screamo at the moment.
Musically you can't really fault Blessthefall as their musicianship is pretty flawless, the only annoyance being the fact that you've heard it all before. The main problem with the genre is that everything is so limited and formulaic that it inevitable that bands will sound similar. No tracks really shine out as being remarkable although "A Message to the Unknown" does have a fair amount of clout to it, even though it sounds as if the singer is trying to copy Coheed and Cambria frontman, Claudio Sanchez's unique and inimitable vocal stylings. "Rise Up" also has a fair degree of flair with its fists in the air, sing-along quality but again, its nothing particularly revolutionary or new in sound.
The secret track nestling after the title track is cringe inducing: jolly hand claps, talk about a yellow ducky and inane band chatter sit at odds with the rest of the album. Although it proves that the band have sense of humour (something usually lacking with some of their counterparts), it just doesn't work in the scheme of the whole album.
You can't help but feel that this album is about four years too late. Looking back to those halcyon days of screamo, this would have been perfect blaring out at a club amongst the ranks of The Used, Thrice and Funeral for a Friend: now however, this just seems a little tired to jaded ears. Although this probably wouldn't be the worst thing to grace your stereo this year, it certainly isn't the most original offering from a band in the flailing screamo genre.